Ptichka said:
I have several friends who have chosen to go the "most needed person" route just to avoid the humiliation.
Ptichka, I don't know what you mean by that...?
Okay, my husband and I were living abroad and planning to move back to the U.S. My father had to sign a document saying he would be "responsible" for my husband for, I think, 5 years. In other words, my husband would not be a burden to U.S. society. We were interviewed by the U.S. consulate abroad, he asked us each a few basic questions, the green card was sent to my mother's house in the U.S. very shortly thereafter and my husband could then work in the U.S. Three years later, he got his U.S. citizenship. I'm afraid it was pretty much a walk in the park.
Funny story about our final "interview" with immigration for the "final green card" (one year after he got the temporary one). I brought my wedding album along (I had heard that was a good idea). We waited for hours until we were called, even though we had an appointment. Turns out the entire dept. was behind schedule because someone in the office had died and they all went to the funeral that day. The lady asked us all of 3 questions, no more, one of those was "Have you ever been divorced from each other?" We looked at each other in horror and said, "No! Of course not!" and Ms. INS said, "Okay, you're approved." I then said, "Does this mean you don't want to look at our wedding album?" and she laughed and said, "Some other time."
Having heard all about fake marriages for immigration purposes, and because she was a very nice lady, I just HAD to ask her, "Well, we're obviously the real deal but how did you KNOW that?" She said that she'd been doing this for a long time and she just KNEW who was real and who was not. She could just sense it.
